Family Day at the St. Louis Mercantile Library Sunday January 27, 2019 1:00 p.m-3:00 p.m.

Join us on Sunday January 27 from 1-3pm on Level One of the St. Louis Mercantile Library for a day of fun and learning about Newspaper history with hands-on activities for all ages in thespecial exhibition "Headlines of History"! This event is free and open to the public, but your RSVP is appreciated! Email mercantilelibrary@umsl.edu or call 314-516-7240 to RSVP. For parking information or directions, please visit umsl.edu/mercantile.

Join us at the St. Louis Mercantile Library on Friday February 8 from 6-9pm for a special Bixby Book Club Valentine's Day Party and Colloquium, and help us thank our generous donors for their recent campaign to acquire rare regional maps for the Map and Atlas Collection. The event will feature remarks by Executive Director John Hoover, as well as a showing of the newly acquired works and a special conservation adoption opportunity. Tickets include a delicious buffet dinner and are $35 each or two for $65. Email mercantilelibrary@umsl.edu or call 314-516-7240 to register.

Headlines of History: Historic Newspapers of St. Louis and the World Through the Centuries at the St. Louis Mercantile Library Association

On Level One through 2019

This is the third in a planned tetralogy of exhibitions building to the 175th anniversary of the St. Louis Mercantile Library, and marks the growth and special nature of the collections of the Mercantile by focusing on one of the most used and important holdings at this research center, its newspapers. This important exhibition features such items as the first known issue of the Missouri Gazette, the oldest newspaper printed west of the Mississippi; and an issue of the Pennsylvania Ledger from July 13, 1776 marking the first printing of the Declaration of Independence in a newspaper. Future programming will include a Family Day and Director’s and Curators’ Colloquia. You can view the complete exhibition catalogue here.

Selections from the St. Louis Mercantile Library Art Museum

On Level One

The Mercantile Library has collected and exhibited art since its founding in 1846, making its art collection a key element in its cultural and educational mission. In the fall of 2011, the St. Louis Mercantile Library Art Museum was officially established with an advisory board and the mission to tell the story of Missouri and the nation’s heartland region by collecting, exhibiting and providing a venue for Missouri art and artists and encouraging partnerships between scholars, artists, collectors, and the region’s cultural community. This exhibition of the Library’s permanent collection celebrates the Library’s ongoing commitment to Missouri art through works from the 18th through the 21st centuries presented in five thematic sections.

From the earliest elections to the present day, candidates and the public have used a wide array of objects to promote their political point of view. The button, in its many forms, is the most common campaign object, but campaign promoters quickly learned that both necessary and luxury items were effective ways to spread political messages. As a result, candidates and their slogans appeared on everything from cigars to shot glasses, paper fans to porcelain plates, and from coffee mugs to the cappuccino to put in them. The ten cases in this exhibition also illustrate the breadth of the Shopmaker Political Collection that continues to grow through donation and acquisition to document the history of American politics.

Lincoln: The Changing Face of an American President

In the Shopmaker Political Print Gallery

The changes in Lincoln’s appearance that were manifested over the period of his presidency reflect the rigors of the Civil War and the personal tragedies he suffered with the death of his son, Tad. This exhibition traces these changes through a selection of images of Lincoln across several media, including prints, photographs, sculpture and textiles. The portraits tell the story of Lincoln’s rise from young circuit lawyer to inspiring president to icon of American democracy.

Inspired by Love: Artwork by Artistic Couples

In the Meier Gallery February 4, 2019-June 16, 2019

Saunders Schultz: Visionary Abstractions

In the Meier Gallery, June 23, 2019-January 1, 2020

Artists and the River

In the Meier Gallery, January 10, 2020- May 31, 2020

Audubon and Beyond: Collecting Five Centuries of Natural History at the St. Louis Mercantile Library

On Level One November 6, 2015 - June 2, 2017

Audubon and Beyond told the history of the Library’s contributions to early St. Louis’ scientific education through its imaginative and awe- inspiring primary and original collections, some of the most diversified in any early American library outside of the American Museum of Natural History itself. View the exhibition catalogue here.

Mapping St. Louis History: An Exhibition of Historic Maps, Rare Books & Images Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of St. Louis

On Level One October 19, 2014-June 30, 2015

The exhibition tracked the city’s development and expansion through maps as important documentary objects and things of beauty as well. Contemporaneous prints, paintings and photographs as well as rare printed histories completed the telling of St. Louis' story.